In The Rain
by melarocco
Summary: Slash -ToddKurt- Written for toddkurtslash challenge 15. Kurt finds a certain person all alone and ill. What is a kindhearted elf to do?


Disclaimer: The characters belong to Marvel, the WB and whoever else is lucky enough to own a piece of them!

I'm planning to work through posting my stories in order (the ones that I can on here, anyway) but this is posted for Cygna Vamp, who requested it, and also gets my apologies for not putting a warning about the content of Sleep of Innocents – I've changed the Summary now!

In The Rain by Melarocco

The steady pitter-patter of raindrops against the pavement provided an off-tempo counterpoint to the steady stream of irritated muttering pushing past Kurt's lips as he stepped out of the main Library doors and into the darkness of the early evening, made worse by the thick, heavy cloud cover causing the weather. Weather that Kurt especially hated. It always took him too long to get dry and, as Evan so enjoyed pointing out, he smelled like a wet dog as he did so.  
  
Cursing his lack of foresight in not even wearing a particularly waterproof coat – it had been sunny when he entered the Library – he pulled his jacket tighter around himself, shifted his bag on his shoulder and sped up. He considered teleporting, but the Professor had been lecturing them more and more recently about using their powers in public and, given he was already in the doghouse over a practical joke he had played on Kitty earlier in the week, this time he was going to have to live with it like any other human being.  
  
Huddled down against the rain, eyes firmly fixed on the ground in front of him, his route took him into the park. On a normal day he would probably have paused and enjoyed the light playing through the leaves of the trees, but today he hurried through as quickly as possible. As a result, he very nearly missed the figure huddled miserably on one of the benches set along the path. When he saw who it was he very nearly rushed past without stopping but the wretched body language of the figure and the way it sniffed loudly as he approached got the better of him and so, despite himself, he slowed to a halt in front of the seated boy.  
  
"Toad?" he asked carefully, holding himself tense and ready for anything. When he got no response he moved a little closer. "Todd?"  
  
"Piss off," the other boy grumbled, then sniffed loudly again.  
  
Kurt fought a brief battle with himself and eventually lost – or perhaps won – when he ignored his immediate impulse to just walk away and instead dropped to sit back on his heels. Todd lifted his head slightly to reveal an ashen face, deep-sunken hollow eyes and a sore red nose, made all the more pathetic by the rainwater dripping down his face.  
  
"God, you look awful," Kurt commented without thinking, and Todd frowned at him, then coughed and winced, putting a hand to his head.  
  
"Ow," he moaned, then, "leave me alone."  
  
"You're ill?" Kurt asked, rather unnecessarily. Todd glared at him disdainfully. As best he could, anyway.  
  
"No, dawg," he said scornfully, "I always look like this!"  
  
"I did wonder," Kurt said, smiling a little. He was finding it surprisingly comfortable, squatting here and joking with Todd who was, after all, supposed to be his enemy. He was also aware that, had Todd been feeling better, they would probably be rolling around on the floor fighting right now.  
  
"Shut up," Todd replied, though without any real rancour. He coughed again and stared at his feet, wishing the damned blue elf would just do his disappearing trick and leave him to be miserable in peace.  
  
"Should you be out here in the rain? I know you're called Toad, but I'm pretty sure getting wet won't be good for... whatever you've got," he finished, wondering why he was even bothering to try to help. No doubt it would just be thrown back in his face.  
  
"Probably not," Todd mumbled. "Guess I'm still human enough to suffer catching a cold, right? Can't be a complete freak after all."  
  
"You aren't a freak!" Kurt exclaimed. When Todd looked at him, he stumbled on, "Well, no more than I am, anyway."  
  
This managed to raise a tired grin from Todd, who said, "I hate to point this out, yo, but..."  
  
"No need to rub it in," Kurt muttered, glancing down at his seemingly normal hands, then using one of them to brush back the soaking wet hair from his forehead.  
  
"Look, as much fun as it is drowning out here, I think you should get indoors," he changed the subject before he could get depressed, and Todd snorted at him.  
  
"Who do you think you are, my mother?" he asked. "Hell, you ain't even Lance!"  
  
Having surprised himself already by hanging around this long, Kurt took this as indication to leave. He stood abruptly and turned away into the rain, barely getting two steps before a forlorn voice from behind stopped him in his tracks.  
  
"Wait, yo, don't go."  
  
Slowly, fighting himself the whole way, Kurt turned back round and eyed Todd where he was sitting a couple of feet away with his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. He mumbled something that Kurt could not hear, so the older boy returned to his former position, squatting in front of the younger mutant.  
  
"Say that again?" he said gently.  
  
"I wanna go home," Todd muttered, almost whining, "but I don't think I can walk straight."  
  
He looked suddenly so very feeble, so young, so ill that Kurt knew his conscience would not be happy unless he helped the Brotherhood boy get home, dry and warm again.  
  
"Why are you out here?" he asked, since Todd showed no inclination to move.  
  
"I jus' wanted to get out for a bit, I've been stuck in my room since yesterday, the sun was out, I was bored so I snuck out the window..." Todd trailed off, and Kurt sighed.  
  
"Come on," he said, standing and holding a hand out, "I'll help you get home."  
  
Todd looked up at him incredulously, stared at the offered hand for a moment and then took it hesitantly, almost shyly. Once he was on his feet Kurt released his hand and watched as the amphibian mutant swayed in the rain. Todd took one step and started to overbalance, so Kurt stepped in quickly to hold him up, his arm around Todd's shoulders. The other boy went rigid, then slumped as if anything else was too much effort. His head fell against Kurt's shoulder.  
  
"This isn't working," Kurt said as part of his mind noticed that the rain had rinsed away Todd's usual unwashed smell and what was left was... not unpleasant. Kurt could not describe it but it was... almost nice.  
  
Putting aside that thought for later study, Kurt focussed on the problem at hand. He was not expected back at the Mansion any time soon – he had gone out to do research for a school project and had been expecting to get dinner while he was out, something his stomach now reminded him he had neglected to do as of yet. Todd gave a tired laugh as he heard Kurt's stomach growling.  
  
"Hungry, dawg?"  
  
"A little," he admitted, and Todd dug inside his coat pocket, pulling out a chocolate bar.  
  
"Feel free," he held it out, and Kurt had to steady him as he started to fall, "'cos I sure as hell ain't gonna eat it."  
  
"Thanks," Kurt said, already ripping the packaging off and taking a big bite. It felt fantastic in his mouth, saliva rushing in as he chewed, making him give a little 'mmm' of appreciation. He noticed Todd watching him with an amused expression on his face.  
  
"Enjoying that?" the younger boy asked, and Kurt grinned sheepishly.  
  
"Chocolate," he explained and Todd nodded in agreement.  
  
"Nothin' like it," he said, then had a brief coughing fit that had him moaning and holding his head in pain. Kurt glanced around. The rain had eased off but the park was still empty. He knew several places around that were always empty so he could safely teleport to them without being seen, and it was a journey of only a couple of jumps to be close to the Brotherhood house. There was only one problem with that plan...  
  
"Look, I can get us to your house in a minute or so, but..."  
  
"What?" Todd demanded blearily, "sounds good to me, yo!"  
  
"Well, people often have a reaction to being teleported, and in the state you're in..."  
  
Todd hesitated, then shrugged. "I can't feel any worse," he said, "Let's go!"  
  
Kurt moved to stand in front of him and cautiously put his hands on Todd's hips. After a pause Todd clasped his hands behind Kurt's neck and they stood looking at each other for a moment, only inches apart. Kurt felt his tail uncurl itself from around his right leg where it normally lived when he was wearing his inducer, and he had to fight the instinctive urge to wrap it around Todd's leg, instead forcing it to re-curl around his own.  
  
_What the hell...?_  
  
To prevent anything showing on his face, and hopefully to distract his suddenly very confused mind, he teleported.  
  
Three jumps later and Todd was collapsed against him, moaning painfully and clutching his stomach.  
  
"I take it back, yo," the poorly boy groaned, "this is so much worse..."  
  
"Please don't throw up on me," Kurt muttered, glancing worriedly around. They were in a small alley a couple of streets away from the Brotherhood house. "Come on Todd, just walk a little way."  
  
"Can't," Todd mumbled, starting to sink to the ground. Kurt grabbed him and held him upright, then sighed and in a swift motion, before he could think about what he was doing, swept the smaller boy up into his arms, his gymnast's body easily able to cope with carrying him. Todd made a startled noise, but then settled against Kurt's chest, head resting once more on his shoulder. Kurt peeked out of the alley and hurriedly teleported to the end of the street where the Brotherhood's house was. He quickly carried his passenger to their house, but paused with the sudden thought that trooping up to the front door carrying a near unconscious Todd in his arms was probably a less than good idea.  
  
Instead he crept as stealthily as he could around the back of the house, sliding past Lance's jeep, and shook Todd awake long enough for him to identify his bedroom window and give a quick description. Kurt's night vision let him get a reasonable idea of the layout inside so he teleported them in, misjudging it slightly and having to softly drop a few inches onto the floor, which was fortunately cushioned by clothes. He deposited Todd on the bed, dropped his bag, removed both their saturated coats and stepped back, wondering what on earth to do next.  
  
His mind was currently going in three directions: one, get the hell out of here as soon as possible; two, he needed to get Todd out of his wet clothes and dry off; three, and this was the one that was worrying him, he was very reluctant to leave, for no good reason other than he was enjoying being with Todd and wanted to help him.  
  
Despite the concerning nature of the final option, that was two-to-one for staying, so after a bit of rummaging he found a towel that did not appear to be too dirty and started drying Todd's hair with it, trying to pluck up the courage to start getting him undressed and making as little noise as possible. The last thing he wanted was for anyone to walk in on him.  
  
Todd's grey-rimmed eyes opened and he stared unseeing at Kurt.  
  
"Mmm, that's nice, dawg," he murmured as Kurt massaged his head. Once the hair was barely damp, Kurt moved off and played nervously with the towel.  
  
"Uh, you should get out of those wet clothes," he mumbled, and Todd groaned, trying to lift himself up. Kurt moved to help, and a strange expression came over Todd's face.  
  
"Todd?" Kurt had time to say before the other boy sneezed explosively, involuntarily shooting a ball of his disgusting slime-spit to splat against Kurt's chest.  
  
"Oh, gross," Kurt exclaimed, jumping back, glaring at Todd, "you slimed me!" Todd stared at him blankly, then focussed on the sticky green mess covering the front of Kurt's shirt. He tried to suppress a tired smirk.  
  
"Sorry, yo," he said weakly, "I didn't mean it." He frowned in thought. "I've got a top in the closet that might fit you, if you wanna change." Sceptically, Kurt opened the closet and picked out a top that looked like it might not be too tight on him since, no matter how wiry he was, Todd was skinnier. He gingerly slid the ruined shirt off and regarded the top, turning around when he became aware that the movement behind him had stopped. Todd had managed to remove his shirts, and his yellow eyes seemed to shine at Kurt in the darkness, wide and staring.  
  
"K... Kurt?" Todd's voice suddenly sounded unnaturally loud to Kurt's ears, but before either of them could say anything, Todd's face screwed up again. Kurt was ready this time and managed to teleport to a spot to one side and a little closer to where Todd was sitting on the bed, leaving the slime ball to smack harmlessly against the wall as the noise of the sneeze faded.  
  
"Sorry," Todd mumbled in such a pathetic voice that Kurt knelt beside him, put a hand on his knee.  
  
"It's okay..." he began, but stopped when Todd leaned towards him, bending his face closer. They stared into each other's eyes wordlessly. Slowly, so slowly Kurt wanted to scream at him, Todd's face moved closer, until they could feel each other's breath on their lips. Kurt pushed upwards, closing the final gap and their lips met, motionless to begin with but then moving against each other, hesitant but gaining confidence with every second. His whole body started to tingle, a warmth spreading from the contact. He kept his hands where they were, but his tail finally completed the manoeuvre it had been trying earlier and wrapped itself around Todd's leg, to which the younger boy responded by resting a hand against Kurt's cheek, fingers tracing a light circle in the hidden fur.  
  
Finally they broke apart, breathing heavily and eyes glazed, a surprised smile on Todd's face, an idiotic grin on Kurt's. They were brought back to reality but a bout of coughing on Todd's part. Kurt sat beside him on the bed and laid a concerned arm over his shoulders, and was pleased when Todd leaned trustingly into him.  
  
Neither of them spoke for a minute or so, though Kurt suspected they really should, until they heard a floorboard creek at the top of the stairs. Todd pushed Kurt up, panicking.  
  
"You gotta go, dawg!" he hissed, coughing as Kurt slipped the top over his head and tugged it down. It was tight, pulling across his chest and shoulders, hugging his arms. He rolled the sleeves up and yanked at the hem, which was riding up to reveal the top of his underwear peeking over the waistband of his trousers.  
  
"Stop fussin'," Todd told him, "ya look good. Better without it, but still good."  
  
Blushing furiously Kurt managed a small smile. He reluctantly stepped away.  
  
"I'll see you soon, ja?" he asked, abruptly afraid that this was all it would be, all they would have, forever. Todd gave him a fond grin as he got himself painfully slowly under the covers of his bed. There was a knock on the door.  
  
"Count on it," he muttered, enjoying the happy smile this put on Kurt's face.  
  
With that, Kurt grabbed his shirt and coat and disappeared.  
  
Todd paused for a moment and then yelled, "Come in," grateful that the odd smell that accompanied the teleportation would quickly disappear into the lingering smell of his room.  
  
Suddenly he felt much better.


End file.
